Hayyim
Hirschensohn, an Orthodox rabbi who served Hoboken at the turn of the
20th century, espoused a doctrine that Jews, if their intent was clear
and honorable, could experiment with their religious observances.

"For
the truth," he wrote in 1921, "emerges only after inquiry and
investigation, and in the initial stages of study, everyone possesses
false beliefs and errs until acquiring a clear comprehension of the
matter."

Hirschensohn was responding to those who promoted a dogmatic and fixed interpretation of Judaism and Jewish life.

Most
pulpit rabbis of large congregations would probably have a difficult
time acting on such a statement, and understandably so. The idea of
experimentation and trial by error can seem oxymoronic when placed next
to the very sober words "religion" and "synagogue."

Yet
without experimentation the synagogue will continue to diminish as
Judaism's central institution. An ethos of experimentation is precisely
what is needed in order to attract more people to Judaism and create a
renaissance in Jewish life.

With the
approach of Shavuot on May 23, which celebrates the Jews' receiving of
the Torah at Mount Sinai and focuses on Jewish learning, let me suggest
a few experimental approaches that might result in increased synagogue
attendance and engagement.

In the world of
Orthodoxy, why wouldn't a rabbi experiment with some forms of gender
equality? Even within the limitations of Orthodox Jewish law, why
wouldn't a rabbi try to propose that instead of a minyan of 10 men,
there should be one of 10 men and 10 women?

Why
wouldn't a rabbi in a Reform congregation experiment with dispensing of
the Torah reading as it is done now, ask the congregants to read the
parsha before the service begins, and then have a discussion involving
any congregant who wants to be involved? Perhaps that same rabbi would
refrain from giving a sermon to allow time to thoroughly discuss the
Torah reading.

Most important, all
synagogues would do well to experiment with shortening the length of
services. Two to two-and-a-half hours, and sometimes three, on a
Saturday morning, or even on a Friday night is a daunting commitment
for anyone, let alone someone who just wants to explore Judaism for the
first time.

When I speak with young people,
they tell me that services should be shortened. But even then, an hour
can be too much to handle if what transpires is boring, irrelevant, and
bereft of meaning. With beautiful music, choirs chanting, meaningful
short services, and prayers that speak to the human condition, perhaps
we can attract a younger segment of the population, especially if we
ask them to participate in their services.

Skeptics
have charged that people are no longer interested in prayer or
synagogue life. A 2006 poll conducted by Gallup ranked Jews second to
last in terms of weekly worship attendance, with less than one in six
attending services, beating out only those who report no religious
affiliation.

The evangelical churches
burgeoning across the country prove that if done properly,
congregational life can be meaningful and relevant to the lives of
people and a source for communal identification. Aside from taking
contemporary visual and audio aesthetics seriously â€“ something sorely
lacking in synagogues â€“ the success of these evangelical groups has
come from realizing that massive anonymous Sunday church experiences
alone fail to provide worshipers with the kind of rich communal
experience they are seeking.

Therefore,
alongside the large-scale gatherings we see on TV, Evangelicals empower
laity to partake in smaller study groups and salons hosted in their
friends' homes and other intimate venues. Encouraging laity to
experiment with where and when services are held does not weaken
communal bonds; it diversifies and strengthens the core religious
experience.

Some congregations and
organizations have begun to promote and adopt such an experimental
approach. Others have gone further, permanently changing their services
and venues based on the above-mentioned ideas. Such initiatives should
be encouraged and the experimental outlook fostered.

Synagogues
have long been bastions of the most conservative tendencies â€“
lengthy, drawn-out services, geshrei-ing over our historical
grievances, and focused more on God's needs than on man's yearnings.
Instead we should encourage synagogues to become places of joy where
people find meaning and fulfillment.

Many of
us respect and admire the traditional forms of synagogue life as
important strands in the rich overall tapestry of Jewish life and
observance. We hope and trust that those forms will always be there for
those who are drawn to them. But for the most part synagogues whose
raison d'etre is to preserve a certain form or style inevitably will
lose their ability to respond adequately to the needs and aspirations
of younger people.

The Jewish historian Salo
Baron famously decried the tendency toward "a lachrymose conception of
Jewish history." Today some continue to perversely believe that the
more we cry and suffer, the more we understand and observe. The
challenge before rabbis of all the branches of Jewish observance is to
make the synagogue experience joyful and affirming on an everyday basis.

Can
experiments like broadening minyans and shortening prayer services
achieve that goal? If we don't try, how will we ever know?